F 499 
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Copy 1 






PROCEEDINGS 



or t«« 



^iftif-iiitlj Inniuersnrq 



Of TBI 



SETTLEMENT OF HUDSON, 



WIT9 



TABLES SHOWING THE LONGEVITY, 4C„ 



OF T«» 



PIONEER SETTLERS, 



HUDSON, OHIO: 



1856. 




£&■ 




PROCEEDINGS 



OF TO! 



jfifttj-fiifjj lnniuersorij 



or THE • 



SETTLEMENT OF HUDSON, 



WITH 



TABLES SHOWING THE LONGEVITY, &C, 



OF TUB 



PIONEER SETTLERS. 



HUDSON, OHIO: 

E. F. CHITTENDEN & BRO., PRINTERS. 

1856. 



At a preliminary meeting of a number of the inhabitants of 
Hudson, Summit County, Ohio, convened to consider the expediency 
of calling a meeting of the Pioneer Settleis and a^ed inhabitants and 
their friends, to celebrate the Fifty sixth Anniversary of the Settle- 
ment, by reviewing the providence of G'-d in the settlement of the 
Township, and the longevity of the inhabitants, it was 

Resolved, That such meeting be held; that the Rev. II. L. 
Hitchcock, D. D., President of Western Reserve College, be le- 
questcd to deliver an Introductory Address; the Rev. C. Pitkin pre- 
sent a statistical report of the settlement, and the longevity <f the 
first settlers and other inhabitants of the township; that the Rev. 
President G. E. Pierce, D. D., repeat his address delivered at the 
Seuii-Centmftinl Celebration, adapted to the present occasion; and 
that the Rev. John Sewaid follow President Pierce by a general re- 
sponse, relative to the first settlers of the Western Reserve. 

Such a meeting was attended, agreeably to request, on June 18, 
185C, and the desired addresses and reports were delivered, as in the 
following pages. 

The meeting was opened by reading select and appropriate pas- 
sages of Scripture, by Professor Hosford, and prayer by the Rev. Mr. 
Excell. The Choir, by request, performed sacred music between the 
several parts, in the old familiar airs of Ocean, in the 71 t P.-alm, 
IstVersion, C.M.;Sherburne,inthe78th Psalm, 1st Vernon, C.M; In- 
vitation and Complaint, in the words set to the tunes, and closed with 
Old Denmark, in the 100th Psalm, 3d Part, L. M. 



\<\\ 



INTRODUCTORY 'REMARKS. 

BY REV. II. L. HITCHCOCK, D. D. 

I shall oicupy but few moments of your time. My office is simply 
the introduction "f tlnsc exercises. The filiing up will be by those 
whose years entitle them to be lie«fJ on tlmoccasi m which brings us 
together; whose observation and experience will give interest and 
value to what, they say. 

Our meeting t'-day is peculiar. Six years mire than half a cen- 
tury since unbroken forests covered the places now occupied by these 
dwellings, these churches and school-house-', that College — these 
wardens and meadows and fruirful fields. A ftw hardy pioneers then 
made an opening in the wilderness. Others soon joined them. 
Tl cv came, with their principles — political and social, educational and 
religious — from the land of the Pilgrim-Fathers. The great change 
has been wrought which it is our privilege to see and enjoy. It is 
well nigh as wonderful as the accelerated speed of communication. 
One day, now, will carry us as far ; s required a month's diligent trav- 
elinii then. We can transmit and receive intelligence iu fewer hours 
than then demanded weeks. 

Representatives of those pioneer families — of that first generation 
— are with us. Not less icuiarkable than the changes which have 
occurred, is the number of them which st.ll survive and are able to 
meet, this day. Statisticians tell us that the average of human life is 
less than thiity years — that one-fourth die under seven years of ago : 
one-half under seventeen : that only six out of every oue hundred 
reach sixty- five, and one out of every five hundred reaches eighty. 
But more than this proportion are here, who have passed sixty-five 
and attained ci-hfy. 



IV. 



We are happy to meet you, and tender to you the deference and 
h >nor due to old age. We honor you, for your character, and the 
lessons of industry and economy, virtue and piety, inculcated. We 
honor you as parents; the fathers and mothers, or their associates — 
for some have passed away — of tlie generation now upon the stage of 
action. We honor you for your work — the homes provided, inststu- 
tious established, improvements made — the foundations of present 
and future prosperity — the beginning of farther and more finished 
improvements. 

It is ours to carry on and perpetuate. Less arduous is the work. 
But still will it require resolution, energy, wisdom, integrity, patience. 
We invoke your prayers in our behalf, that, wc may not prove un- 
worthy of the trust committed to us, and may transmit the inherit- 
ance received, not impaired but improved, to those who shall come 
after us, and that generations yet unborn may rise up and call the 
Pioneer Settlers of Hudson and vicinity blessed. Honor always to 
the resolute, hard-working pioneer of puritan institutions. But all 
are not equally favored with those who established them here. This 
soil, with all that of the Northwestern Territory, was consecrated, by 
the ordinance of 1787, to Freedom. The repeal of a solemn com- 
pact has op med territory once barred against it, to Slavery. Pioneers 
there, animated by the same principles which laid the foundations of 
social order and prosperity here, can establish like institutions only in 
the midst of conflict and great peril. Well are our sympathies excited 
and how can we otherwise than desire and pray that, a kind Provi- 
dence, will watch over them and give them the victory, that the home 
of the free may bo extended, and the institutions of freedom may 
there diffuse their blessings. 

But. you are, with reference to us, pioneers to another territory. 
It is p'opled by the generations that are past. Your feet stand 
upon its borders. Ours must be there ere many years have gone. 



May he who has brought life and immortality to light, whoso friend- 
ship is freedom, indeed — freedom from the bondage of sin and death 
— be your guardian and friend. May his presence ever be with 
you, and as you follow him, we will try to follow you, that our ex- 
ample may be a guide to those that shall come after; and so, at last, 
shall we meet in that better land, where wrong aud painful toil, sor- 
row and death are unknown. 



STATISTICAL IIEP011T. 

BY REV. C. PITKIN. 

By general absent certain periods of human life are observed by 
individuals and social circles will demonstrations of pleasure, and 
sometimes with lively expressions of gratitude to the God of our 
mercies. 

Birthdays — the Fourth of July — the day on which our Pilgrim 
Fathers landed on Plymouth Hock — are, by different circles, regard- 
ed with appropriate demonstrations, as interesting epochs. We come 
togeiher to celebrate the 56th Anniversary of the settlement of Hud- 
son, by noting particularly the LONGEVITY of its inhabitants, and 
gratefully reviewing the mercy of God in this partitular. 

My own mind was awakened to contemplate this subject by lock- 
ing at my coevals end cesoeiatis in advanced life. Casting n y <}cs 
over the inhabitants <f IIucsc n, as it appeared to me, I faw an unu 
sual number of grey heads towing with infirmity toward the grave, 
already past the common 1 oundary of human life, — circumstances 
led to a more minute investigation of the facts. The result I hold 
in my hand. A catalogue of forty names of persons living, on the 
l^t of May, in a population of some 1500, aged from 70 to 87 years 
—14 over 80, and 26 from 70 to 80—40 aged from 70 to 87. 



VI 

While obt lining these statistic-, 22 others have hoen ascertained, 
wh »>e average aj;e is <iS — in all, G2, agj.J from 65 to 87, viz: 

AfiKD. ( Agei>. 

Oeorgo Kilbonrne... ...... 87 \ Mrs. Gideon Case 71 

Mrs. 0. Kilbonrne HO > John Fa war 71 

Owen ISimwii 8) ) Itev. Harvey Coe 71 

Lewis Clark 85 ) MM. II. Coe 00 

Nathan Strori'j; 85 ( Philip Film- 71 

Dr. Klias Wel.l 81 ' Klisha Ells*ortli 71 

Oileon Mil's 8J\Mrs. E. Ellsworth 7u 

Mm. (J. Mills 8,))Mrs Goodrich 70 

Z na Post 82 ) Nathaniel Stone 70 

Mr. Moses Thompson 81 ) Mrs. N. Stone 07 

Joseph Dar.ow 81 ? Mm. .Win. Leach (Ford) 7-i 

Mrs. Vi-iel Cobb 81 Mrs. Daniel Johnsou 71 

Mm. Ge -rgj lVa<e 8-)Dr J. Metcalf 70 

Mrs. Stephen Thompson 8 \ Mm. Metcalf 64 

Dr. Oliver Mills 7'.»)\1m. Brewster 00 

Mrs. Mill j CO 1 ' harles Huiics 07 

Solomon Curtiss 78? Mm. C limes 09 

George Darr.w 78^ r.tor Blakeslee 08 

Allen GaylorJ 79 ) Joseph Bishop <i7 

Chauncjv Case 78>Mm.jJ, Bi.-hop 09 

Mrs. (J. Case 77) Mrs. Barrett GO 

Mrs. G W. Holcomb 77> MM. J. Oviatt 07 

Mrs. Morrill 7i> ^ Amos Chamberlin 0") 

Mrs II. o'Brian 70 •. Irs. Chamberlin 03 

Rev O. Pitkin 75) >lr«\ William Chamberliu 03 

Mm. O.Pitkin 72) 1 cohChamberUu 0-3 

M irtin L Edwards 75 ) Horace Metcalf 05 

C ileb H omastoti To ) \vlvester Baldwin 05 

Mrs. 0. Homaston 07 ? I <ilia Wells G> 

Mrs. Noble Day. 72^ Mm. Gross 07 

Mrs. N. Dawes 77) John B. Clark 03 

\ 

PIONEER INHABITANTS. 
In making these inquiries, s> many interesting facts in relation to 
Mm fir t set lenient nf the township, and particularly the longevity of 
the pi n er inhabitan's, weie elicited, lli.it I was induced tn extend 
my investigations more particularly to this remarkable class of inhabi- 
tants. In this investigation, I have confined my inquiries to those 
who came into tho township in immediate connection with Esquire 
IIu Ism, from Grvt'h?!! C mil., an I those who fallowed in his train 
from LitehfielJ County and vicinity, or fell into it in New York 



VII. 



State, and setthd under his auspices, and were identified in the same 

linllingc neoUS COlllDllDUUitV' 

A few families from cither sections of country settled at an early 
day in the extreme South and west parts of the township, and aie 
n >t inelud> d in ihis census. Also a lew families who shod removed 
from the settlement, and aic scattered be\ond myicachj these, of 
(■ urse, aie not included in my reckoning. 

A few 1'ri i.iminahy Facts. — '11, e Ci>t efiec tive movement di- 
rectly towards ilie settlement of this t<wn*hip was made in lT'-U. 
To explore; his -township, and make piepaiatinn to con. tin me a set- 
tlement, E-quire Hudson, with a snail umpMiy of hind men, left 
Goshen, in Litchfield C«unty, in the spiing of this year, 'liny ar- 
lived at Cleveland in tin- 8th of June, and passed up the Cnvahogsi 
River to the tmuthof Bwrnhwiue Creek. Hue they discmlatkcd, 
and after a search of six days they succeeded in finding the south- 
vvest coiner cf his township. He re he commence, d an improve incut. 

Jo epli Darrow. Esq , one of thiscxploiing Company, wl.uassifcted 
Esquire Hudson in suivey irg his ti wush p into quaiur stclicu lots^ 
is still living, aged 81, and able to appear with us to-daj 

In the fall of 17&9, ha\ii<i made some preparation (or their com- 
fortable reception, he returned to Connect cut alter his family. He 
lelt Goshen, with his family, in the \\i tcr, and came to 13 Icon, fie Id, 
N. Y. Early in the spring of 18U0 he proceeded in 'pen boats up 
the Likes, and on the f)th of June he; arrived in safety, with all his 
company, at his wilderness home. II is own family and that of 
Samuel Bishop, with Cap) Oviatt, Dr. Thompson, and others, twen- 
ty-tight in number, including one infant, composed this company. 
Ten of this uumber aie still living, viz; Dr. Thouqson, Joseph 
Darrow, George Darrow, William N., Timothy, and Abigail L. Hud- 
son, David and Joseph Bishop, Allen Gaylord and Mrs. Gad lloilen- 
beck. Three of the Cfteeu who voted at the oigimization of the 



VIII. 



township, by electing officers, in 1802, are living, viz : Dr. Thomp- 
son, Joseph and George Darrow ; and time of the thirteen who com- 
posed the 1st Congregational Church in Hudson, organized by Rev. 
Jos. Badger, in 1802, yet survive, members of the Church, viz : Geo. 
Kilbourne, Mrs. Kdbourne, and Mrs. Stephen Thompson. During 
the year 1801 the .settlement was increased by large companies of 
immigrants, and these were followed by others in 1805-9-10-12-14, 
to which time all he ids of families are reckoned Pioneer Sei tiers. Of 
those who came with their parents, unmarried, in 1800-1, connected 
with three familie,nine, in a few years found companions among others 
who came in single, and are accounted families among those who came 
in a married state. The following statistical account will be reviewed 
with interest. In this account, Parents, the number of children 
brought with them, the number yet. living and their age, the number 
borusince and the number still living, and their age, are noted, thus : 



Names of Immigrants. 

David Hudson, \ 

Mrs. Hudson, / 

Samuel Bishop, 1 

Mrs. Bishop, j 

David Bishop 

Lnman Bishop, 1 

Mrs. Bishop, / ' 

Joseph Bishop, > 

Mrs. Bishop, | 

Gad Hollenbeck, \ 

Mrs. Hollenbeck, / 

Joseph Darrow 

George Darrow, ) 
Mrs. Darrow, ] '" 

Allen G.iylord 

Joel Gaylord, > 
Mrs. Gaylord, j " 
Heinan Oviutt, 1 

Mrs Oviatt, J 

Dea. Stephen Thompson, ) 
Mrs. Thompson, j " 



3 
3 

w 

ieoo 


er 


•> 


« 


)8^t57 


1 


1 


1800 




5 


o 


A— 73 






1800 










8 


( 


1800 










10 


P 


1800 














1810 










7 


7 


1810 
I8:>0 










10 


9 


1800 










13 


(i 


1 800 














180. 










12 


7 


8J<; 










- 


- 


1800 




8 


3 


tU— 78 






1801 




2 


1 


•37 


It/ 


g 


1801 


















21 


It 


■3 -—73 


74 


■32 



6H 

10—48 

25—47 

27—44 
22to 42 
40— 50 

i7— 62 

32—46 

30—48 



IX. 



flames of Immigrants. 



Abraham Thompson, "^ 
Mrs. Thompson, ) 

Stephen Thompson, "t 
Mrs. Thompson, J 
Dr. Moses Thompson \ 
Mrs. Thompson, / 

George Pease, 1 
Mrs. Pease, J 

Eben Pease, "I 

Mrs. Pease. ( 

William Leach, | 
Mrs. I, each, | " 

George Kilbourne, ) 
Mrs. Kilbourne, | '* 
Bradford Kellogg, \ 
Mrs. Kellosifr, j '" 



\ 



'•} 



Amos Lu>k, 
Mrs. Lusk, 
John Uviatt, 
Mrs. Oviatt. 
Owen Brown 
Mrs. Brown, j 
Benjamin Whedon, 1 
Mrs Whedon, (" 

George \V. Holcomb, 1 
Mrs. Holcomb, J 

Zina Post, | 

Mrs. Post, ( 

Daniel Johnson, i 

Mrs. Johnson, j 

William Chamheilin, "l 

Mrs. Chamberlin. j 

William Chamberlin, Jr 

Mrs. Chamberlin, 

Nathaniel Stone, 1 

Mrs. Stone. J 

Augustus Baldwin, 

Mrs. Baldwin, 

S i inuel I lollcnbeck, 

Mrs. rlollcnbeek, 

Joseph Kingsbury, 

Mrs. Kingsbury, 

Elisha Ellsworth, Mrs. Ellsworth 

Dr. Jonathan Motcalf, Mrs. Metcalf, 

Ariel Cold). Mrs. Cobb 

Gideon Mills, Mrs. Mills 

Ch.mncey Case, Mrs. Case 



1801 
1801 

1801 

1799 
1801 
1800 
1801 

1801 

1801 

1801 

1801 

1801 

1805 
1 1805 
'l805 \: 



18 



1804 
1801 

1809 

1810 

1810 
1801 

1810 l J 
'l810 
1810 

1810 

1810 
1812 

lsi ; 

l-i i 

1181 I 








19 


li 
1 


12 






8 


02 




i.*) 




- 






8-1 



2 1 






3 55—02 



1 50 



-07 ' 2 

-67 

-08 j 5 

-00 1 11 

-59 10 



■>3— J 



18 



6148- 



1 1 



16 



4 65— 



51— 08 |:r, If 15—5.5 



H— 51 
42—48 

33—54 
10—53 
15—50 
38—55 
44—48 

45—53 

29—64 

23—50 

18 

27—43 

27—43 

27—39 

e 15—38 
27—44 
2130—43 



3 31—44 
■J 25—88 



17—11 
52—^0 



X 



Of this number of Pioneer Settlers, heads of' families, the foilov^ 
inc are deceased : 



David Hudson 

Mrs. Hudson 

Samuel Bishop 

Mrs Bishop 

Joel Gnylord 

Mrs.Gaylord 

Deacon Stephen Thompson... 

Mrs. Thompson 

Abraham Thompson 

Mrs. Thompson... 

Stephen Thompson 

Mrs. Dr. Thompson 

George Pease , 

Mrs. George Darrow 

Bradford Kellogg. , 

Mrs. Kellogg 

Hem.'tn Ovi:itt 

Mrs Oviatt 

Amos Lusk 

Mrs. Lusk , 

Wm. Leach , 

The following are livin 



18361". •» Eben Pease. 

181b' 55 John Oviatt 

1813 62 v Mrs. John Oviatt 

1816 -W v we'll Brown 

1829 74$ Mrs. Brown 

1825 74 j Benjamin VVhedon 

1829 VO; Mrs. B. Whedon 

1812 80^ George W; Holcomb 

Ib28;66( Daniel Johnson 

184U7") > VS illiam Chamberlin 

18-il 78 j Mrs. William Chamberlin. 
1850 70/ William Chamberlin, Jr.... 

18-i7 71 /Joseph Kingsbury 

1845 t)U( tirs. Kingsbury 

1832 74( Ariel Cobb 

1826 50 ( ...ilium Bishop 

- Bl ix L Bishop 

i ) muel Hi Leiibeck 

1813 40 P Mrs 8. Hollenbeck 

1843 7-"i? Augustus Baldwin. 

1813, 33 j In all forty-one. 



I)TTD. 

1813 
1827 
1813 
1866 
1808 
1833 
1801 
1817 
1843 
1814 
1813 
1844 



1840 

1848 

184 

1836 

1832 

1838 



AOET>. 



Ao:;i>. ) 

Dr. Moses Thompson 80 ' Nathaniel Stone " 70 

Mrs. Stephen Thompson SO \ Mrs. N. Stone 67 

AllenGaylord 79 1 si Cobb ....81 

Joseph Barrow 81 Mrs. Wm. Chamberlin, Jr 63 

George Barrow , 7, Gideoii Mills 82 

George Kilbourne h7 > Mrs. Gideon Mills Sli 

Mrs. G. Kilbourne 86 ^Chauncey Case 77 

Mrs. Wm. Leach (Ford) 73 ( Mrs. C Case 76 

Mrs. G. W. Holcomb 77 \ \ lisha Ellsworth 71 

Zina Post 82 \ Mrs. E. Ellsworth 70 

v,rs - '■-■ Post 66 £ Mrs. George Pease 80 

Mrs. Eben Pease (Oviatt'i .. 67 > Mrs. Augustus Baldwin 6.") 

Mrs. Daniel Johnson 71 ( Gad Hollenbeck 75 

David Bishop 73 ( Mrs. Hollenbeck 65 

Joseph Bishop 67 (Dr Jonathan Metcalf 70 

Mrs. Joseph Bishop 09 ) Mrs. J. Metcalf 67 

From a careful analysis of the.se historic catalogues, the following 

interesting results may be noted : 

Of the whole number of aged inhabitants, living when this census 
was taken, 4 were in their 80th to 87th jear. 



26 
23 

In all 03 



/0th to 80th 
63rd to 76th 
66th to 87th 



averaging 66. 



XI. 



Among these, 5 families hive lived in their first connubial state, 
respectively, 55, 56, GO. 62 and 65 year?, and two others are within j 
a few months of their golden bridal. 

PIONEERS. 

The Pioneer Settlers of crally.in the morn- 

ing and early meridian of li e ; from 15 or 16 t > 40 or 44 years of 
age. Most df them earn into the country in 1800 and 1801, when 
it was literally a wilderm bh y have rei i the township 

and vicinity until death, nr until the present time, iifry-sis j 
from the commencement of the set lem mt. 

Thirty-three of the seventy three, i. e., more than three-sevenths ; 
of the whole number, were 1 ving when this rincipally I 

taken. Esquire Brown h is ince died, leaving thirty-two now Ii\ 

105 children were br ugat into the country with their pan 
and friends. (i 1 ^ of the e are yet living I 40 to 70. 210 

children have been born in these fun lies in this country. 155 of j 
these arc yet living, aged 1") to 56. Of all, 21S out of 321, more | 
than two-thirds of the wh >!e number yet survive. 

The first two white childr n bun in Hudson, and we suppose in 
this county, arc living, viz : Mrs. H. Baldwin, daughter of Esqnire 
Hudson, and Harry Leach. 

The first grave opened in our burying ground, was filled by the 
wife of Esquire Brown, with an infant babe on her arm, in 1808, 
aged 37, and Esquire Brown, now by her side, fills the last grave 
opened there for an adult person, aged 85. 

Of the 41 Pioneer Settlers who have died within fifty-six years, 

1 lived to the age of 90. 

5 " 80 to 90. 

15 " 70 to 80. 

5 " 60 to 70. 

8 " 50 to 60. 

7 " 33 to 50. 



XII. 



(Jf those 32 living, 

10 are 80 to 87. 

13 are 70 to 80. 

9 are 60 to 70. 

Of all 73, 16 have numbered 80 to 90 years. 

28 " 70 to 80 " 

14 « 60 to 70 " 

15 " 33 to 60 « 

Ilonce three-fifths of the whole number have lived beyond the age 
of seventy. 

While contemplating this view of life among the Pioneer Settlers 
and inhabitants of Hudson, my mind has been strongly impressed 
with our obligation gratefully to acknowledge the special favor of 
G-o.l to us in this respect. And at every step, as I have advanced 
in making up this census, this impression has been deepened. And 
h to lot us pause and set up our Kbcnezor, saying, with Samuel of 
•'olden time," " Hitherto the Lord hath helped us." Other remi- 
niscences crowd iu to extend the picture, but this one — THE LON- 
GEVITY of the Pioneer Settlers and inhabitants of the towntdnp — 
here holds precedence. 

.A singular coincidence has been noticed in examining public doc- 
uments. The public census of 1850 gives Hudson 1451 inhabit- 
ants, and the same census gives precisely the same figures for the 
number of inhabitants of Goshen, Conn., whence our little band of 
Pioneers emigrated fifty years before. 



XIII. 



ADDRESS. 

BY RKV. G. E PIE11CE, V. D. 

The character of the early settlement of* this town, and of most of 
the townships on the Reserve, resulted from the connection of this 
territory with an Eastern State, ami the link which b uml together 
Old and N< w Connecticut has existed m »re than two hun I red years. 
The existence of such a link was in a high degree, Providential. 
The hand of G <d is often referred to, as seen in the discovery and 
early settlement, of this continent, and especially of the Plymouth 
Colony; it is as clearly seen in the early scttlemeut of the Western 
Reserve. 

In the year 1620, King James incorporated the Council of Ply- 
mouth, and gave them, by charter, "the tract of land in America, 
between the fortieth and forty-eighth degrees of north latitude, from 
sen to sen, to be called New England." In the year 1628, the 
Council of Plymouth granted to a company a tract, of land called 
Massachusetts, of certain de6ned limits on the north and on the 
south, and " in length and longitude throughout the main lands 
there, from the Atlantic on the east part to the south sc/ on the west 
part." This grant, was confirmed by a charter from Charles L, ill 
1629. The Earl of Warwick, having received authority from the 
Council of Plymouth, made a similar grant, in 1631, to Lords Say 
and Seal, and others, of land south of Massachusetts, from Nar- 
ragansitt river, 120 miles upon a. straight line, near the sea shore, 
towards the southwest, and within this breadth, in leng'h and longi- 
tude throughout the main lauds there, from the W'Sbrn Ocean to 
the South Sea. The English called the Atlantic the Western Ocean 



XIV. 



and the Pacific the South Sea The colony of Connecticut purchased 
this grant, and in 1662 it received its charter from Charles II., con- 
firming its boundaries, and hence the claim of Connecticut to the 
belt of land between 41° and 42° 2' north latitude, from Narragan- 
sett Bay across the continent, and in this belt of land lies the West- 
ern Reserve. When Governor Winthrop appeared before the King, 
in behalf of Connecticut, to obtain a royal charter, he presented him 
a favorite ring, which Charles I. had given to Winthrop's grandfa- 
ther. The king was so pleased with this token, reminding him of 
liis unfortunate father, that he gave Connecticut the most liberal 
charter that had ever been granted, and confirmed the title in its full 
breadth and extent to the Pacific Ocean. It was a strange form in 
which to convey land, a tract seventy miles wide, and extending 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and we suspect that the knowledge 
of geography was somewhat imperfect in those days Tradition says 
that the king inquired how far it was to the Western Ocean ? The 
agent replied, " it has never been measured accurately, but it is easy 
enough to see the ocean from the tops of the hills." We will not at- 
tempt to decide whether the Governor intended to obtain from the 
king a good Yankee bargain, but certainly the result has been most 
happy to the people of Connecticut and to the inhabitants of the 
Western Reserve. When the Legislature of Connecticut, in 1786, 
relinquished to Congress all claims on western territory, and reserved 
120 miles west from the western line of Pennsylvania, it laid the 
foundation of its large and permanent School Fund, and thereby se. 
cured the education and intellectual elevation of its citizens in all fu- 
ture generations, and at the same time secured the early survey of 
the reserved lands in New Connecticut, and their sale to the most 
able, intelligent and enterprising citizens of the State, and their early 
settlement by a people, well educated, of steady habits and good 
morals, and for the most part attached to the interests of religion ; a 



XV. 



people, hardy, robust, resolute, and well prepared to endure the hard- 
ships of frontier life, lay the foundation of good society, and prepare j 
the best institutions of learning and religion. The consequence is 
that tbc Western Reserve has become the garden of the West. So it 
is regarded by the most observing men in the Eastern States. For 
the intelligence and thrift of the people, for its schools and institu- 
tions of learning, for its churches and the establishment and support 
of religion, there is not a territory that will compare with it, west of 
the Alleghanics. In fifty years it has made as great advancement in 
all these respects as was made by the parent State in the first bund. 
red years. Nay, more; in wealth, in enterprise, in permanent im- 
> meuts, in what has been done for the cause of education and re- 
ligion, in what has been done for the establishment and endowment of 
its College, it has already made greater advancement than Connecti- 
cut had at the commencement of the present century, when this offshoot 
from that State was first transplanted. Its population is nearly equal, 
at the present time, to that of the parent State, and with about the 
same extent of territory, it is capable of sustaining, and will soon 
possess, a much larger population. 

In the plan of God, the Western Reserve had a place. In the 
days of old, and as far back as the period when our ancestors lauded 
on Plymouth Rock, commenced a series of Providential arrange- 
ments, whereby this fair land, this goodly heritage of ours, was given 
to a peculiar people. Men were as ignorant of what results would 
■ come from the extension of the territory of Connecticut across the 
i continent, as they were of what would result from the discovery of 
the continent itself, or as they were what states, what institutions, 
what systems of government, what progress in the arts of civilized 
j life, and what a great and prosperous nation were to result from the 
planting of the early colonies upon the Atlantic coast. But the 
, same Providence which revealed the continent to Europe, and held it 



, 



XVI 



in reserve for more tlian a hundred years, till England should be in 
readiness to thrust out her best, sons, the most noble men of modern 
times, to plant colonies in the wilderness, and lay the foundation of 
our "rowing Republic, that same Providence ordered each occurring 
event which bound the Western Reseive to an Eastern colony, and 
for more than a hundred years held it in reserve as the rich inheri- 
tance i f our fathers and our children. Had the men of England 
known In \v far it was fr< tn s( a to sea ; had the weak and capricious 
Charles failed to 1 e please with that trifling token, his father's ring 
given to Wiuthrop's ancestor; had the wording of that verbose 
charter, once hid in a hollow tree, and now preserved among the an- 
tiquities of Hartford, been different in a single sentence; had Sir 
Edmund Andre os succeeded in obtaining the charter when the lights 
wen- put out and it was carried off; had Connecticut failed to establish 
its claim to the Western Reserve, as it did in asserting similar 
claims in New York and Pennsylvania ; had Congress refused to as- 
sent to the claim; had one of a thousand events, dependent upon the 
agency of men, which we can suppose, occurred; had there not been 
a Coil in heaven, watching over and guiding all events even the most 
minute, the Western Reserve might have been distinguished in no 
way above other western territory, aud we should not have been per- 
mitted to exult, as we do this day, in the virtues and achievements of 
our fithers, and iu the goodly heritage with which we are now sur- 
rounded. 

Historians have often noticed the peculiar time when the New 
i England Colonics were planted, and have noticed the state of Europe 
and (specially the state of England, as peculiarly favorable for the 
establishment of just such colonies as were planted. At no other 
time could men of such heroic virtues, of such firm principles, 
such devotion to the cause of liberty, such unbending adhcrance to 
the Word of God, such firm resolve to give to posterity institutions 



XVII. 



by which their principles should be perpetuated, having been drawn 
together in a remote wilderness, to encounter the hardships and per- 
form the labors by which their great design was consummated. If 
we look back fifty years we may be led to admire the pro\ 
G-od, in selecting the time when settlements in this portion of our 
country should commence. Conm 

in a condition to th ould 

have done at any earlier - period. It 

the wcikness, the hardships and th 

bad become stable 1 anient and and 

religious in its habit lalth, 

and luxury, an ■ i downfall 

of states and empires. The early immigrants from I 

industrious, and disposed to plant in r the best 

that were left behind. 

From about the year 1700 to 1880 
Connecticut churches. This period is 

i >n throughout the S juished for their purity, and 

permanent influence, greatly enlarging the churches, improving 
morals of society, and bringing the people of til 
extent, under the control of religion. Th f the chui 

during that period, were able, intelligent and pious men, acting in 
concert, preaching the distinguishing i of the gospel, and 

applying the truth with great fidelity to the consciences of men. 
The work of the Connecticut Missionary Society was done chiefly 
during that period. It was greatly to the advantage of the churches on 
the Reserve that they came off from the parent stock during such a 
favored period, bringing with them impressions of revivals in their 
best forms, having a high regard for doctrinal preaching, and enjoy- 
ing to so great an extent the labors of the Missionaries of the Con- 



XVIII. 

neeticut Missionary Society. The first settlement in many of the 
townships is to be regarded in the light of a Missionary enterprise, 
begun and carried forward with the express design of extending the 
kingdom of Christ. Facts show that this was true of the first set- 
tlement in the township of Hudson. The colony was chiefly I 
Goshen, in Connecticut, a rich farming town in Litchfield county, 
distinguished for its economy, thrift, orthodoxy and benevolence, 
making annually a larger contribution to the Connecticut Missionary 
Society than any other inland town in the State. This town enjoyed 
the labors of the Rev. Asahel Hooker, who was among the first class 
of ministers in the State, and was a teacher of theology to nums 
young men gathered at his house. In 1799, the year of emigration t:> 
Hudson, a powerful revival took place in Goshen, and seventy-: 
members were added to the church. The benefits of this revival 
were afterwards felt by the colonists at Hudson, who were organized 
into a church in 1802. In the early religious movements of the 
town we find the influence of such men as Deacon Stephen Thomp- 
son, who was a Deacon in the church at Goshen, David Hudson and 
Heman Oviatt. With the two latter I have often conversed about 
their connection with the church in Goshen, and the motivi 
which they were influenced in deciding to emigrate. It i 
they had in view the establishment, in this distant wilderness, of a 
Christian church, and of those institutions by which the best inter- 
ests of society are promoted and perpetuated. Mr. Hudson said to 
me, that in early life he had embraced sentiments of infidelity, and 
that he used his influence to the injury of the Christian religion. 
After a change in his views, and his connection with the church of 
Christ, he wished to do something to repair the injury he had done, 
and to advance, to the extent of his ability, the interests of that 
cause which he had once labored to destroy. These were the views 
which prompted him to emigrate. To us it might seem a strange 






XIX. 



movement, that a man, in order to do something for the interests of 
religion, should quit his home, and bid farewell to friends and kindred, 
and attach himself to a small colony, and by a toilsome and danger- 
ous journey of months, place himself in an unbroken forest, hund- 
reds of miles beyond the boundaries of established society and the 
evidences of worship. But the results have shown that he and his 
associates in their decision, and that an immense amount 

■ii achieved, which they never could have done if they 
had remained in Goshen. At that early period, Foreign Missions, as 
a means for the advancement of the Christian cause, were scarcely 
thought of in this country. Hitherto religion had been advanced by 
selectiug new fields, planting new colonics, and organizing new 
churches upon new localities, as population increased and a wider 
range of settlement was required. And the Missionary enterprise 
•fed in sending Missionaries to the new settlements, and preach- 
ing the gospel to those who were enduring the hardships, and en- 
countering the dangers of frontier life. In these circumstances, it 
is not strange that Christian men in Connecticut should have regard- 
ed the establishment of the institutions of education and religion on 
the Western Reserve as the most promising Missionary enterprise iu 
which they could engage. The early efforts and sacrifices of the 
men who came to Hudson show that they were actuated by the mo- 
tives which I have ascribed to them. They never suffered the Sab- 
bath to pass by, after the settlement was commenced, without relig- 
ious worship ; and by great effort, and great pecuniary expenditure, 
they provided for the enjoyment of religious ordinances among them- 
selves, and sought to promote the progress of religion in this part of 
our country. I shall not dwell upon this portion of their history ; I 
only allude to it to present the charach r of the enterprise, and to 
call attention to the Christian and heroic virtues of the men by 
whom it was conducted. In the conversation to which I have al- 



XX. 



luded, Mr. Hudson said that he had no sooner brought his family to 
the town than he erected an altar for God, and commenced worship 
on the Sabbath, and it was the first desire of his heart to see the day 
when a church should be organized within the township, and he re- 
joiced in that day. The. nest, object of desire was that this church 
might enjoy the labors of a settled pastor, and he lived to see that 
day, ai;d was glad. Then it was in his heart to see a house erected 
for the worship of God, and that he saw completed, to his great sat- 
isfaction. " But," said he, "the College — the College; that was a 
child of my old age. I never expected to live to see that." Yet. the 
College was in perfect, coincidence with his plans and with his Mis- 
sionary spirit. He spent most uf his time in visiting Christian fami- 
lies in all parts of the Reserve, and securing the organization of 
churches, and it was with him a matter of painful solicitude, how 
the infant churches rising up on the Reserve were to be supplied 
with able, faithful ministers, in sufficient numbers to meet their 
wants. The College came in as the appropriate instrument to sup- 
ply the deficiency. The church was organized in 1802; Mr. Han- 
ford, the first pastor, was ordained in 1815. The first house of wor- 
ship was dedicated in 1820. The College was chartered 1826, and 
the first College edifice was erected the following summer. These be- 
nevolent designs — truly Christian — truly Missionary in their charac- 
ter — could not be carried on without cost. And I am about to give 
the fathers of the township credit for a generous liberality unparal- 
leled in the history of benevolent enterprise. The house of worship 
for the firs;-. Congregational Society has cost, first and last, not less 
than $3,000. Add the cost, of the other churches in the village, 
and you have not less than 816,000 paid for houses of worship. Iu 
the year 1824, Commissioners were appointed by the several Presby- 
teries on the Reserve, for the purpose of consulting and advising rel- 
ative to au institution of learning. They met at Aurora, in June, 



XXI. 



and among other tilings, they recommended the appointment of Com- 
missioners to locate the Institution, taking into view all circumstances 
of situation, the moral character of the people, facility of communi- 
cation, amount of donations, the health of the place, &c These 
Commissi mers met on the 22d of September 1824, and decided 
to >cate the Institution at Hudson, Portage county, Ohio, on a plat of 
ground northeast from the center. The College Re :ord adds that the 
amount of subscription for this loeatiou was about 87, 150. The de- 
cision of this Committee, appointed, as it was, from all parts of the 
Reserve, speaks well for the township of Hudson. And the amount 
subscribed must certainly be considered liberal, when it is remem- 
bered that this was but twenty-four years after the first settlement of 
the town, that the competition for the location was not very great, 
and that the whole population of the t' wn, according to the census 
of 1830, six yen- afterward--, was but 775. 

The settlement was commenced at New Haven, Conn , in 1638. 
It. was the most opulent colony that ever came to New England. The 
leading men were rich mercii mts. According to a census and in- 
ventory, taken five years after the settlement commenced, the popu- 
u was 419, aud the property £36,000. Sixty-two years after- 
wards, in 1717, Yale College was removed from Say brook to New 
Haven. The competition between Saybrook, New Haven, Hartford, 
and Wethersfield was very great. Saybrook subscribed £500, and 
New Haven £700, and obtained the location, aud the first College 
was erected at a cost of £1,000. The people of Hudson, earlier in 
their history, with less population, and much less ability to secure 
the location of a College, gave more than twice as much as New 
Haven. 

The people of Hudson have been repeatedly called upon to aid the 
College, and have always given a most liberal response. The second 
principal effort iu its behalf was in 1830, the third in 1837, and the 



XXII. 



fourth in 1845 and 1848. The whole amount of donations in this 
town, since the origin of the institution, rejecting subscriptions not 
considered good, and making a liberal allowance for the manner in 
which payments were made, exceeds $50,000. What other town on 
the Reserve, not exceeding it in wealth and population, or even in 
the United States, has, within the last thirty years, given a like sum 
to an institution of learning ? 

I have referred to what was given in New Haven to Yale College, 
in 1717. About the same time, Elihu Yale, a rich London mer- 
chant, who had resided for about twenty years in the East Indies, 
and was Governor of the East India Company, became a liberal pa- 
tron of the College at New Haven. Between the years 1714 and 
1718, he sent donations in books and in goods (it appears that Col- 
lege donations were not paid in cash in those days), to the value of 
£500, and a little before his death he ordered goods to be sent out to 
the value of £500 more, but they were never received. For £500 
paid in books and goods, the name of Governor Yale is handed down 
to posterity, as one of the most liberal benefactors of mankind. 
This donation, together with what was given by the citizens of New 
Haven, enabled the Trustees to erect the College edifice, which was 
built of wood and painted blue ; a building one hundred and seventy 
feet long, twenty-two feet wide, and three stories high, containing 
nearly fifty studies, besides a hall, library and kitchen, and the histo- 
rian adds, " It made a very handsome appearance." I am not able 
to determine what was the value of Governor Yale's donation of £500, 
paid in books and goods, but I suppose six, and perhaps ten citizens 
of Hudson have each given as much to Western Reserve College. 
Many individuals in this township have made donations of $500, 
and of $1,000, and upwards. The largest donations have come from 
the estates of Heman Oviatt and David Hudson. From each of 
these sources the College has received about $12,000. The motive 



XXIII. 

in giving was not simply to promote the interests of the town, hut to 
prepare an institution of learning adequate to the wants of the West- 
ern Reserve, to provide an ahle and learned ministry for its nume- 
rous churches, to extend the hlessed influence of learning and religion 
to the wide western country, to hand down a rich inheritan 
terity, and to extend the triumphs of that Kingdom whose interests 
the fathers came into this wilderness to prom 

There are other ways hi which the liberality of the town has b 
:; besides in donations to the College. T am not able to say how 
much lias been paid to support the preaching of the Gospel; ] 

ntributed by any other town 
wealth and population on the Reserve, perhaps more; the eontribu- 
ireign objects have always been liberal. 1 am told 

ration of the churches, they amounti 
y have probably been greater since. The school-houi • 
this town, so far as I have observed, are neat, tasteful edifices, and I 
ve that many competent teachers have been employed and 
I. There was in the township, from the beginning, the spirit. 
iblic improvement, and large outlays were made in clearing away 
the woods and building roads and bridges. And as a crowning liber- 
ality of this class, we have a very large amount subscribed, and much 
of it paid, to the Railroad, an enterprise which, in the first instanc \ 
might have died in its infancy had it not been for the energy 

■I of the citizens of Hudson. Some have estimated that an 
amount not less than 8400,000 has been given by the people of this 
township for the public benefit. 

It has not been the result of this liberality to impoverish the ] eo- 
ple, but we suppose this is prominent among the means whereby the 
wealth of the township has been etcadily advancing. The original 
proprietors of the town paid Connecticut fifty-two cents an acre, or 
for the 1G,000 acres of the five miles scpuare, §8,320. The value 



XXIV. 

of the township, real and personal estate, according to the grand levy 
for 1850, which is a low estimate, was 1418,788, showing that the 
property "f the township has doubled nearly six times in fifty years, 
upon the cost of the original purchase. The levy of the -township 
for 1856, shows an estin 1.S1S. the properly having more 

than doubled in six years. We believe that the foundations of its 
future prosperity are thoroughly laid, and that it may anticipate much 
■r progress, in wealth, and in every thing that can elevate and 
adorn civilized life, for 

And here it is my wish p^n the prospect before 

us, and ask what lessons are taught us, by the years gone by, to guide 
lis and our children in the duties yet to be discharged, as time shall 
advance. After more than fifn years have passed since the first 
ment of Hudson, we hav v to call to remembrance 

■ ■vents, to commemorate the virtues and heroic deeds of our 
fathers, and gather wisdom for the more faithful discharge of our ob- 
ligations. What is our duty, as taught us by the history of the 
past? I think it will be admitted to be manifestly incumbent upon 
us to enter fully into the of those who have gone before us, 

and cherish the interests which were dear to them, and carry out the 
benevolent designs, which were instituted by them at such an im- 
mense amount of toil and sacrifice. Like them, we must see to the 
cultivation of our soil, and render it productive, and strive to in- 
crease the wealth and reputation of our township. We must remem- 
ber our public improvements, and encourage and patronize them, as 
the sources of our future wealth and prosperity. We must attend 
to our schools, and secure the best education to the rising genera- 
tion. We must cherish our College, as an institution of prime value 
to ourselves and our country. And above all, we must sustain the 
institutions of religion, support the preaching of the gospel, and, by 
the combined influence of our churches, endeavor to bring all our 



XXV. 



population under the power of Christianity. To accomplish these 
ends we shall need, like our fathers, to practice a rigid economy. If 
I mistake not, this, among them, was characteristic. It was soon in 
their houses, furniture, and dress ; it was soon in all their habits, and 
strongly advocated in the avowal of their sentiments. It was a wise 
economy, suited to their circumstances. Such an economy we shall 
need, in order to con sirable ends. We shall 'need to in- 

s-e it in the cultivation of the soil, in the choice of our domestic 
animals, in our houses and fences, in our furniture and equipage, and 
in our nioi inducting business. Our economy must be just 

such as is called for by our condition. If an inha' some 

country where wood is sold by the pound, were with us to-day, he 
would look around on these decaying trunks and branches in our 
- and forests, and say, "why this waster" not knowing that 
I not permit a man to gather such materials for wood. 
• the same thing in the country that it is in the city; 
is not the same thing in a new country that it is in an old one; not 
the same thing in a rich country that it is in one that is poor. To 
practice the economy of our forefathers, it is not even needful that 
we do every thing as they did. Let us have an economy suited to 
the Western Reserve, and calculated for the latitude and longitude of 
Hudson, and make the needful advancement just when circumstances 
shall call for it. 

Another virtue of the early settlers of this town, as we have seen, 
was their liberality, and this we are bound to imitate. If they prac- 
tised economy in all things — even in small things — they were liberal 
upon a great scale, and their benevolence was that of a most generous 
magnanimity. It is a general principle, recognized in the Word of 
God, that a liberal spirit does not impoverish, and that, on the other 
hand, a man is prospered in life much in proportion as he is ready to 
impart of his possessions to promote worthy objects. Have we not 



XXVI. 



I ; reason to suppose that a principle, every where true, has had, and will 
| have its application among the citizens of this township. While the 
1 liberality of the people has promoted the general prosperity of the 
[j town, is there not ground for discrimination ? Have not those fami- 
] lies who have been most generous iu their benefactions been most 
prosperous, and have they not become most wealthy'/ And have 
j there not been other families, where they have withheld altogether 
I too much, and it tended to poverty and degeneracy and degradation? 
I Leave it with those who are more familiar with the history of the 
; town than I am to these inquiries. Certain Iain, how 

;■ that it is only is magnanimity that has secured the best in- 

i terests of the place, and the great ends to which many of our peo- 
'■ pie have been devoted in days that are past, and that this alone will 
ire our future advancement. 
And I only add that, like the early fathers of our township, we 
must recognize the supreme God as the arbiter of events, and trust 
in Hi- arm to guide and protect us, in all our goings. Our lathers' 
God must be our God. It is owing to the blessing of Heaven upon 
their labors that we are permitted to-day to rejoice iu the work of 
their hands. The God whom they revered and honored, whose 
worship they established, and whose name they spead abroad, was 
with them in the hour of danger, guided thein through the wilder- 
ness, established them in their chosen habitations, prospered them in 
their undertakings, and enriched them with a goodly heritage. We 
believe that the same superintending Providence which directed our 
fathers to this chosen spot, and enabled them to lay the foundations 
of valued institutions, has still important purposes to fulfill, and it is 
for us to co-operate with him in the fulfilment of his benevolent de- 
signs. And our God may be trusted. He who directed to the dis- 
covery of this continent, and guided the early settlement of the At- 
lantic colonies, He who connected this portion of our land with an 



XXVII. 

Eastern State, and brought out chosen men to change the forest to a 
fruitful field, and clothe the earth with verdure, and cover the hills 
with flocks and herds, to establish schools and institutions of learning, 
to organize churches, and build houses of worship, will prosper his 
people and guide to the full development of his merciful designs. 
We have been m s of other days, to 

ly the extent of man's memory, the events of more than fifty 

On the fourth of duly, 1H)0, near the center of our pub- 

lofty trees, that the sun could scarcely 

[] udson and vicinity, m n and 

Iren, to the nui orate 

the anniversar »ual indepei All these grounds 

far ai sj they had long echoed 

to the tramp of the wild id the savage, bul as yet had not be- 

md of the woodman's ax. Where this 
where th • are, where the Colleges stand, on the 

many farms where flocks are grazing and tasteful mansions rise, grew 
the lofty monarchs of an hundred winters, ruling, in sullen sileuce, 
the dense, dark for: urrounded. That assem- 

blage of pioneers w y band. There were stout hearts and 

firm resolves: and they offered their prayers and their praises to 
Freedom's God, and claimed Him as their Father and Protector. 
In the year 1900, less than fifty years from to-day (and some of our 
children will be there to see it), I can suppose the people of this 
township will be assembled to observe the second semi-centennial cel- 
ebration of its settlement, perhaps upon the same common — covered 
with beautiful green, enclosed in parks, with iron railing, overshad- 
owed by lofty elms hanging in graceful arches and rendered cool by the 
play of copious and refreshing fountains, while all around its borders 
are stately mansions and marts of trade and beautiful temples dedi- 
cated to the living God. There will be congregated our children and 



XXVIII. 

our children's children. On the morning of that day, the reiterated 
noise of the distant ears will be heard, and thronging multitudes will 
come from She east and from the west and from the north and from 
the south, from a surrounding country densely peopled, and highly 
cultivated, and blessed by all the elevation that can be given by the 
arts of civilized life, and by wealth and learning and religion — throng- 
ing multitudes, like pilgrims in annual visit to the Plymouth Rock, 
will come to spend the festal day with the intelligent and refined cit- 
izens of Hudson, and join with them in commemorating the virtues 
of their ancestors and extoling the heroic deeds of the men who, in 
the midst of incredible hardships, laid the foundations for the pro- 
motion of learning and religion, and thereby became the greatest ben- 
efactors of mankind. "We who stand here to-day have received a 
rich inheritance, and it is for us to hand it down, not only unimpaired 
but greatly improved and enhanced, to posterity. Let us remember 
that we are to enstamp the impress upon the coming generation, and 
prepare them for the high destiny that awaits them as the citizens of 
our great and growing republic. 



XXIX. 



CLOSING ADDRESS, 

REV. JOHN BEWARD. 

During a period of fortj'-five years since I commenced speaking 
as an authorized preacher of righteousness, it has not hcen my habit 
to begin a public discourse by making apologies ; and I am now too 
old to adopt the practice. In many cases I regard it as a species of 
deception, if not of absolute falsehood. I shall proceed at or. 
the work before me, which is to say something about pioneers and 
pioneering on the Connecticut Western Reserve. Many historical 
facts have been already this day presented to your view, respecting 
the settlement of the Reserve and the experience of the pioneers. 
I was not among the earliest of those who came into this wilderness 
to make it their permanent abode, being about ten or eleven years 
later than the first immigrants. Before my arrival, however, but 
few of the first settlers had died ; and by my excursions as a Mis- 
sionary, I became personally acquainted with most of the inhabitants 
then in the country, and was thus familiar, to a great extent, with 
their earlier and their later experience in subduing and cultivating a 
dense and unbroken forest. Hence in the position I occupy to-day, 
you will permit me to make a very free use of the first person, both 
singular and plural. 

That I was acquainted with most of the inhabitants on the Re- 
serve forty-five years ago may appear incredible to the present gene- 
ration, when on this territory there is now a population of 300,000, 



XXX. 



perhaps 400,000. But at the census of 1810, the year before I 
came out here, there was a population on the Connecticut Western 
Reserve of only 4,454, and but very few of these west of the Cuya- 
hoga River. The inhabitants of the city of Cleveland are this day 
ten times as many as all the inhabitants of the Reserve forty -six 
years ago; and I suppose there are now in the single township of 
Hudson more than one-third as many people as there was on the 
Reserve at that time, and these were not scattered as now in every 
township throughout the territory. On the north-east corner, at 
Conneaut — where I spent my first Sabbath in Ohio, and preached to 
a little handful of hearers on a cold October day, in a little open 
log school-house, without door, window or chimney, exposed to wind 
and smoke — several families by the name of King and a few others 
had located. Capt. Nettleton and a very few other families were at 
Kingsville, and Father Badger with his son-in-law Smith, and some 
few others were at Ashtabula. Judge Austin, Dr. Hawley, Dea. 
Case, with a considerable number of other families had settled in 
Austinburgh, with a church organized and the Rev. Gr. H. Cowles 
for their pastor. There I spent my second Sabbath, and preached 
three times to Mr. Cowles' people while he went out to supply some 
destitute neighborhood. There were a few people in Morgan and 
Rome. At Harpersfield a church had been organized, with the Rev. 
Jonathan Leslie for their pastor, and among the prominent members 
were the Harpers, Esq. Cowles, Judge Wheeler and Judge Tappan 
— not Ben. Tappan, for I never heard that he was a member of any 
church. Having visited these few settlements, you have done with 
the inhabited portion of Ashtabula County in 1811. The remain- 
der of the County was almost an unbroken wilderness. As we pass 
on through where Madison and Perry now are, we find no human 
being to salute us in our solitary horse-back ride. Reaching Grand 
River we cross where Painesville now stands — then having a few 



XXXI. 

scattered log cabins — and passing down about three miles on the 
west side we arrive at the plantation of Capt. Skinner, a professor of 
religion, and in whose dwelling the hungry and weary Missionary 
always found a place for refreshment and repose. His eldest daugh- 
ter was the wife of Esq. Hine, of Youngstown, and his house much 
resorted to by the early settlers on the Reserve. Between his plan- 
tation and where Painesville now is, Gen. Paine had settled on the 
west side of the river ; Gov. Huntington and Capt. Pepoon on the 
east side. Capt. Pepoon had died before my arrival, but the family 
resided there. Some of the sons, particularly Joseph, have since 
been somewhat prominent for their activity and zeal in the concerns 
of religion. 

By particular request I spent my third Sabbath in Ohio at Paines- 
ville, and preached in a rickety, unfinished building used for a Court 
House, standing in a forest of scrub oak. Judge Calvin Austin, of 
Warren, was one of my hearers ; and though not a professor of reli- 
gion, urged me to visit and preach to the people in Warren. Leav- 
ing Painesville, on the ridge road you would find within the distance 
of some three or four miles, Esq. Jones, a family by the name of 
Nye, Mr. Blish, Judge Merry and Judge Clapp. Going south from 
Judge Clapp's, you would find none till you reached the log cabin 
of William Hudson, at the four corners in Chester, with a little clus- 
ter of cabins a mile or a mile and a half east of him, called the 
Minor Settlement. Going easterly to Burton, you would arrive at a 
pleasant township, where Burton, Hamilton, the Cooks, Fords, 
Hitchcock and others had a prosperous and promising settlement — 
a township distinguished by furnishing men who have adorned and 
dignified some of the most responsible offices which the State of Ohio 
can bestow, one of whom now stands at the head of yonder College, 
and has spoken to us with such thrilling interest to-day. After vis- 
iting Deacon Pomcroy, of Hamden, Capt. Spencer and the Taylors, 



XXXII. 

in Claridon, and a few other families in these townships and in Hunts- 
burg, you have about completed the census of Geauga county. The 
remainder was covered with a dense, unbroken forest. 

In Parkman a few families had located ; two Deacon Wooleotts, 
and a few others in Farmington ; some in Gustavus ; Kinsman, An- 
drews, Dr. Allen and others in Kinsman; Brockway, Gen. Smith, 
Hays, the Bushnells, and a large number, mostly from Hartland, 
Conn., were at Vernon and Hartford ; a settlement at Vienna, with 
an organized church, and Rev. N. B. Derrow as their pastor ; a set- 
tlement at Brookfield, Hubbard, Youngstown, Poland, Boardman, 
Canfield, with Esquire Mygatt, the father of George Mygatt, as one 
of its prominent men ; a few in Newton, Braceville and Southington, 
with a few families in other townships. Warren was the county 
seat, and there you would find the Lanes, the Leavitts, Judge Calvin 
Austin, old Deacon Reeves, Gen. Perkins, Judge Pease, Thomas D. 
Webb, and many others. We have now done with the population of 
Trumbull county, then the largest and most populous county on the 
Reserve. 

I will here introduce an incident which occurred to Judge Pease 
and myself. It happened in the spring of 1815, 1 think in May. 
After the close of the war, government ordered a public sale, at Cleve- 
land, of a number of the horses which had been used in the war. 
Judge Pease was the Government Agent or Auctioneer, and had ap- 
pointed a certain Saturday for the sale. 

Notice of the sale had been previously given, but I was not aware 
of it, and had made an appointment to spend the Sabbath and preach 
in Cleveland, as a Missionary, for it was truly Missionary ground, 
there being no church of any denomination in the place, and but 
very few professors of religion. According to my usual practice, I 
went to the place of my appointment for the Sabbath on Saturday, 
and found the little log village of Cleveland in a great bustle, crowd- 



XXXIII. 

ed with a class of men such as the occasion might be expected to call 
together — horse jockeys, speculators, many of them hard drinkers, 
vulgar and profane, with here and there a sober, respectable man, 
who had come in with the hope of obtaining a useful horse for home 
service. The most comfortable stopping place at that time in Cleve- 
land, for a Missionary and his horse, was at the tavern then kept by 
Esquire Wallace, who afterwards removed to Northfield, and died 
there a few years ago. His house, with Christian hospitality, was 
ever open, free of charge, to all ministers of the Gospel. It was 
built of logs, according to the common fashion of those early times, 
with two apartments, separated in the center by a covered hall. In 
the rear, some additions had been built, for a kitchen, sitting room, 
&c. Some of my old associates may have been in the house, and can 
remember its form and structure more particularly than I can de- 
scribe it. To avoid the " noise and confusion," much greater, prob- 
ably than that which Gen. Cass experienced there a few years ago, I 
was kindly invited into the back part of the house, to sit in the fam- 
ily room, with Mrs. Wallace and the little children. She was an 
amiable and I believe a Christian lady. 

Supper time arrived, and I was requested to repair to the dining 
room and take a seat at the table. This room was in the west end 
of the main building, with a door opening into the hall. After I 
was seated, the crowd came rushing in, thundering through the hall, 
swaggering and swearing in such a manner that I was inclined to re- 
tire from the table. I kept my seat, however, and they seated 
themselves without ceremony or order, filling the long table. Then 
commenced the rattling of knives and forks and plates, mingled with 
the noise of many vociferous tongues. By chance, or more properly 
speaking, providentially, Judge Pease had taken a seat nearly op- 
posite to me, and just as all were commencing to eat, he took his 
knife, and made several heavy raps on the table, fixing all eyes upon 



XXXIV. 

him. Then mildly but firmly requesting attention, he kindly asked 
me to implore a blessing. Surrounded with respectful silence, I did 
so. During the remainder of the meal we had peace and quiet, all 
conducting themselves with becoming sobriety, and retiring through 
the hall with a deportment widely different from that of their boiste- 
rous entrance a few minutes before. 

Having mentioned Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, above, a few 
remarks on settlements in that county may not be out of place. In 
1811 there was a settlement in Euclid, with a small church, and the 
Rev. Thomas Barr as pastor. Among the prominent settlers were 
Judge Lee, the McElraths, Elder Ruple, Esquire Doan, and Mr. 
Shaw, most of whom were from the State of New Jersey. In New- 
burg were Mr. William G-aylord, the Kingsburys, Hubbells, and 
others. In Cleveland were Judge Wadsworth, Dr. Long, the Perrys, 
Kelleys, Major Carter, and a few other families. Mr. Shephard, 
Judge Barber, the Brainerds, and a few more, had gone west of the 
Cuyahoga river, and settled in the township of Brooklyn, and a fam- 
ily or two were settled near Tinkers' creek, on the old State Road 
from Hudson to Cleveland, and a few frmilie3 in Warrensville. 
Having visited these settlements, you have become acquainted with 
the inhabited portion of Cuyahoga county. 

A large tract of land north of Hudson, which now comprises the 
townships of Twinsburgh, Northfield, Independence, Bedford, Solon, 
and Bainbridge, extending to the Lake, was at that time the favorite 
resort of the deer, the elk, the bear, the wolf, and other animals that 
flee on the approach of the woodman's ax. 

The townships in the old county of Portage were more generally 
settled at that time than those of any other county on the Reserve, 
there being but few townships in which there were not some inhabit- 
ants. I believe there were none in Edinburg, Streetsborough or 
Twinsburgh, and but very few, if any, in Northfield, Brimfield, and 



B& 



XXXV. 

a few others, but nearly as soon as Hudson was settled, Delavan Mills 
had located in Nelson, Amzi Atwater, Elias Harnian, Rufus Edwards 
and others in Mantua, Ebenezer Sheldon in Aurora, Tappan in Ra- 
venna, and Cays and others at Dcerfield. Windham had been set- 
tled by a company from Becket, Mass., with a church organized 
before their removal. Old Deacon Alford was the patriarch of this 
emigrating church, assisted by such men as Thatcher Conant, Ben- 
jamin Higley, Dillingham Clark, Isaac Clark and others, distinguished 
for intelligence and respectability. A colony also came here from 
my native parish of Granville, Mass., led by such men as Charles 
and Lyrnan Curtiss, David Coe, Levi Sutliif, &c'. 

Samuel and Thaddeus Andrews, the Bostwieks, Chapmaus, Ariel 
Case, Israel Coe (the father of our venerable brother here), Esquire 
Spelman, and others, had made a promising beginning in Rootstown. 
Under the active management and by the great exertion of the Rev. 
David Bacon, Tallmadgc had been settled by an intelligent, indus- 
trious and evangelical class of inhabitants. Most of the original 
settlers have gone to their eternal-home, but the township has become 
wealthy, populous, orderly and respectable, through the exertions of 
those who have efficiently entered into the labors of the original pro- 
jectors and founders. 

Enough, I think, has been stated to satisfy those present that a 
Missionary, in 1811, might have become acquainted with all the peo- 
ple then on the Reserve. But you, my aged associates of bygone 
days, need no such statements to establish the truth of that asser- 
tion. The names I have mentioned were familiar to you forty years 
ago, and with many of them you were personally acquainted. But 
few of them remain, and we, with hoary heads and trembling limbs, 
stand here to-day as the representatives of a former generation, soon 
to pass away, and bid farewell to the fair scenes and brilliant pros- 
pects with which we are now surrounded. 0, how the times and 



xxxvi. 

circumstances have changed. Then we girded ourselves, and went 
whither we would ; now another girds us, and carries us whither we 
would not. In the time it then took us to travel from here to Cleve- 
land they will now carry us half way to Boston or New York. And 
intelligence from New England, which could not then reach us in less 
than from three to four weeks, now comes almost in the twinkling of 
an eye. My respected and beloved associates, may we so spend the 
brief remnant of our days as to meet our blessed Redeemer where 
parting and pains will never enter. 







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